Health Project

In class we have been studying the different aspects of health; physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and moral. 
 
The one that stood out to me the most was moral health. It intrested me immidiatly because I had not considered moral and ethical dilemas to be an aspect in obtaining and maintaining health. The disscussions we had in class & the moral situations we were presented with made me think about what our moral beliefs and "codes" say about us. My belief before we had these disscusions was that moral values can indicate a lot about who a person really is; their "true self". I thought this because moral dilemas force one to make a decision and provide justification for their choice. However, during the disscussions I noticed that many people arrived at the same conclusion, using the same or similar logic. This lead me to believe that the moral decisions one makes rarley has anything to do with the individual, but rather the culture they are part of, and the authority they subscribe to. For example, if one believes that homosexual relationships are not morally correct, it does not indicate that they have had poor expiriences with homosexual people, but rather it tells you about their enviroment and backround. It also tells you that they most likley observe and submit to a major religion. 
 
One thing that also made me realize this was the "6 levels of moral thinking". Previously, I had thought that one's moral justifications and decisions are indicators of how "good" or "bad" of a person they are. However, I have come to realize that it actually says more about how "good" and compassionate their culture is. For example, people from certain places are more likley to think on a "level 1" because their culture has tought them to be more rule oriented, and that breaking those rules is the ultimate morally wrong thing to do, even in circumstances that others may see as fit to break the rules for. The fact that these people will not break those rules does not tell us that they are heartless; rather it tells us about the culture they are obliged to. 
 
This concept was resonant to me because it made me think about what things are universal and what things are determined by culture. Are there certain Universal Human concepts? Or are all of our concepts developed by our societies, packeged up for us to consume? The more I think about it, the more I think our cultures pre-determine our values and beliefs, and even desires.